Days Seventeen and Eighteen: Chennai-Bangalore-Mysore

Sunday, August 29, 2010, Bangalore

(Happy Birthday, Dad, and belated Happy Birthday, Liam)

12:36 a.m. India Time

I haven’t written in two days, nothing, at least, except, lists, scrambled notes, and poems. These two days and the rest of my time here is bound to be a blur as we try to make up for the time M.C. was sick and our plans got so tangled.

FRIDAY

 Raja got up early to take the boys to the airport. They are going through a ceremony with their mom’s family in Pune (that’s pronounced Poona, not Pyoon) I slept in because I had woken up in the middle of the night and couldn’t get back to sleep until after I had read an entire Reader’s Digest, gone to the bathroom, and watched some cricket highlights on TV with Raja, who also woke up soon after I finished the Reader’s Digest.  My asthma has really been acting up, and I think the A/C has a lot to do with it, as I seem to cough a lot less when it’s off. However, I sweat more when it’s off, too, so it’s a choice between the lesser of two evils.

Anyway, after sleeping so late, I accepted coffee but skipped first breakfast and waited until Raja got home before having brunch with him. After brunch we packed up our things for our trip to Bangalore and Mysore for the weekend. Our train was due to leave at 5:30 p.m., so we packed our bags, some snacks, and left at about 12:30 for some last minute shopping before heading out.

We went to Spencer Plaza, which is really the only mall I like in Chennai, as it is less modern shops and more like an indoor bazaar, with handsome gentlemen wanting “Madam” (that would be yours truly) to come in to their shop so that they could show me something special that I would certainly want to buy. Sometimes I did. I bought some more gifts (I can’t wait to get home, spread out all of my wares and photograph them. My gods, I have bought a ton of things), a suitcase (only one? I know! I may need another, but Raja says there is space in his and there are some spare suitcases floating around at his parents’ house.) and six pairs of shoes. Six gorgeous pairs of Indian shoes. Sequined and embroidered shoes, the kind that were selling for 70 dollars and up in fancy shoe stores, and for $17.99 at Payless a few years ago (an those weren’t as nice as these.) Raja looks at me after we’ve bargained to the final price and said, “Are these shoes really worth twelve dollars a pair?” LOL.

The shoes, and then the Durga. He had done so well with the bargaining before that I let Raja come with me, even though I had plotted out how to haggle on my own. I chickened out. Also time was running out. We went to find the shop, one of several that is run by a Kashmiri family in the mall. I had seen her before, priced 4200R. They cut it to 3000R and I walked away. Came back, and I think I paid 2900R. I’m still happy, as she is absolutely beautiful. My puja cabinet doth overflow with holy deity goodness. Also, while Raja was at the ATM pulling cash to pay for her (my money out of his account) I bought some other things for people I like.

We had eaten an awesome lunch at this South Indian fast food place in the mall, and after our shopping was done, we piled in the car with our travel luggage and put my new suitcase with all my purchases in it in the trunk for the driver to drop off at Uncle and Aunty’s after he dropped us at the train station (remember, he’s their regular driver, so we knew we could trust him with our stuff.)

The driver took us to the Chennai Railway station. The Indian railroad system (as anyone in India will tell you) was probably the best thing the British ever did for India. It is pretty old, but it is very efficient for getting things and people from here to there, all over the country.  Raja told me that some of the steam-engine trains are still running, but most of them are electric now. 

The main part of the station was pretty hectic and crowded, and the walk out onto the platform was long. It did remind me of a station I had seen in a Bollywood movie. On the walk back to our platform, I saw several parcels and woven baskets. There was the smell of fish, too, as some of the trains were shipping seafood from one part of India to others. 

When trains change direction here, it’s a complex process as the engines can go either way, but the train has only one engine in the front, not one on either end, so the train is not "reversible" and it can’t automatically move backwards or forwards. The engineers have to drive the train in, unhook one engine, bring the other engine in and hook it up to the train, heading the other way.

I wanted to take more pictures of the station and trains, but because there have been bomb scares and terrorist attacks in India, it’s not allowed.  Even once we were on the train, I was reluctant to take pictures, so instead, I kept a running list of what I saw as I gazed out the window.

It is as follows: a list poem

FROM CHENNAI

A huge congregation of cows

near a body of water

A cart pulled by a long white cow with horns

A group of women in colorful saris

standing by the train tracks

A slough crowded with algae & weeds

Greenery punctuated by metal rail

Vyasar Padi Switching Room

electrical station

Boys sitting on the tracks

A city street, bustling.

The Church of God in India

A radio tower piercing the sky

A girl in a bright blue sari riding a red scooter

The city speeding by

Another train: opposite direction

Black birds landing on the roof of a

beige building

A baby crying

Another cell phone ringing

The conductor checking tickets &

i.d.s;  blue jacket, burgundy tie,

glasses, handsome mustache

Shri Vishnu Mahal

Two men on  a bench

Pink apartments, orange apartments,

orange and green apartments

Another green swamp

Mud gardens

A well

Electric wires

A grove of palm trees

Two dun cows

Billboards of Tamilian men

with  handsome

mustaches

The sun on the top of clouds

Orange Fanta in a paper

cup

Avadi

A marriage hall

Earth movers

“This is the real India”

Tent city

A graveyard

A cluster of people in the street

A strong man painted on the side of a building

flexing his biceps in blue

underwear

A woman and a small girl in a field

A cow standing alone in the next

field

over

A purple building, a pair of pants on

the clothesline

A long beige fence

Tamil Tamil Tamil: the writing’s on the wall

A shrine on the edge of

a pond

My reflection in the dingy

window

The yellow metal seat in front of me

A long white building with many

windows

A thatch roof hut near

A glowing white , elaborate statue

Shrine

Shrine

Shrine

A roof full of birds

Pale light on the horizon

The silhouette of palms

Rain in the far distance

A mound of sawdust

A thatch hut next to

a concrete building

The chai wallah

Temple

A motorcycle parked at the

dead end of the road

A yellow temple

A woman carrying a roll of purple

cloth on her head

The train slowing

Approaching

Tiruvallur

5 cows

3 men sitting in a circle in

a field

4 scarecrows

A huge rainstorm in the distance

Green green green green

green

A Christian church

Egattur

Orange sky, the horizon on fire

ahead

The light dimming

dimming

The darkening sky

Eventually I had to stop as it became dark and I was tired. The journey from Chennai to Bangalore by train takes about 5 ½ hours. In comparison, you can get a flight, which only takes about half an hour to 40 minutes. However, you miss all the awesome sights.

Bangalore is a very modern and cosmopolitan city. There are tons of coffee houses, shops, and other western conveniences. The Indian (and international) High-Tech companies have offices in Bangalore.  The problem is that it is very expensive to live here. It can be as expensive to live in Bangalore as it is in the U.S., and most people simply don’t make as much money here. Raja told me some flats sell for as much as one million dollars U.S.  That’s more than I can afford!

We got in at about 10:15 p.m. We met our driver who took us to our hotel, Terrace Gardens which is really a bed and breakfast inn…in fact, they claim to be the first and only B&B in Bangalore. It is really modern and nice. It did crack me up that when I walked in the TV was switched on, and they were showing “Twilight” with English subtitles on.  I was glad when Raja turned it off. I took a shower to get the day’s grime and sweat off, and snuggled down with Raja for some much needed alone time.

SATURDAY

I didn’t see any tigers today. Other than that, today was the premium day for animal experiences in India.  We woke up at about 6:30 a.m., freshened up and went downstairs to reception where we handed in the key so that they could clean our room and they brought us some coffee so that we could wake up a little.

We had hired a driver, Raju, for the entire day. It cost Raja 4000 rupees (about 90 dollars) for the day. That is amazing, I think. Raju picked us up at eight, and we headed off to Mysore, about a three and a half hour drive (the approximate time without stops.) Of course, we had stops.

The drive was fascinating. The streets in Bangalore are cleaner than Chennai, but somehow the air seems dirtier. People had told me the air was yellow in India, and I didn’t really see that until  I came here. Maybe it’s been drier, so there is more dust in the air or something, but it is truly different.  Also, in the paper was the news that 65% of Bangalore’s drinking water is contaminated by chemicals, including lead. One of the culprits may be the icons of gods that people dump in the water on big festival days. There is now a growing “green” movement in Bangalore, which is encouraging people to use eco-friendly icons and vegetable-based dyes, instead of non-biodegradable materials and paints which may contain lead. I was hoping that the younger generation would take this up and run with it, and it looks like they have.

On the drive I saw so many things, I was hard-pressed to remember them all. There were plenty of dogs, but I haven’t seen as many of them here as in Chennai. What I have seen a lot more of are cows. Not in the shopping areas of Bangalore, per se, but once you are out of the city center? Tons. Cows pulling carts, cows sitting nonchalantly on street corners, cows with long, curved horns, cows munching by the side of the road…and you know what else you see on the side of the road? Men peeing. Seriously. I think I’ve seen about 20 different men peeing by the side of the road: some in the country, and some right on a city street. Of course, they turn their back to the street (except for one little boy I saw peeing in a bush in Mysore, but he was only about 4.)

Bangalore and Mysore are in the state of Karnataka, and the language, Kannada, is all over the walls and streets, just as Tamil is in Tamil Nadu. However, Raja tells me that the people here are not happy that Bangalore is becoming so cosmopolitan, and they are rather snobby about their language. Some signs don’t even have an English translation given, much less a Tamil or Hindi. (Everyone’s expected to know some English in India, remember, and 70% of the population speak Hindi.)

On the way, I saw a restaurant called “Kentacky” fried chicken. LOL. In Chennai they also have “Dizzee Land.” It cracks me up, like people are going to be fooled. I saw a car with a motto on the back that I thought said “coming for you…always” and thought it sounded a bit stalker-ish, but later I saw another car which said “caring for you…always” so I guess I misread it the first time. This reminds me: one day when I was browsing in a jewelry shop, the guy at the counter’s phone rang, and he had a Hindi movie song as his ringtone. I recognized it as the song  “Jaadu Teri Nazar” from the movie Darr, which is about a guy who obsesses over this girl so much that he stalks her, tries to harm anyone who gets near her, and eventually tries to hurt her. He dies in the end. “Jaadu Teri Nazar” is the song he sings for her. If I were on a first date with a guy and his phone rang with this song, it would be our last date!

We were stuck in traffic for quite a while getting out of Bangalore. I’m not sure why, as it was early Saturday morning, and not a work or school day, but it was what it was.  As we were stuck in traffic, I heard an ambulance siren, and saw it limping its way through traffic, and wondered why people didn’t at least try to get out of the way.

I was a bit surprised once we got out of the main part of town how many ponies (or donkeys, not sure),  goats, and long-horned cows there were pulling carts. Also, I saw sheep and a group of men with loaded camels! I really wasn’t expecting that.  I also, unfortunately, saw my first truly deceased animal, a dog who seemed to have met with either a bus or a lorry (big truck) as it was squished almost completely flat, like in cartoons, but much yuckier.  I also saw several chicken vendors with live chickens stuffed into small cages. Animal rights activists would have a fit, but they were probably only in there while being sold for eating, anyway, and PETA wouldn't like that, either. There were several roosters in people’s yards on the way, as well. 

We stopped for breakfast at a little out of the way place by the roadside, which seems to be a well-known hot spot. They have a very good breakfast buffet (although you can’t eat the fruit or use the silverware, at least not when you’re with Raja the Germophobic) and we stuffed our faces. We weren’t the only ones, as the place was inhabited by a lively group of monkeys! I really didn’t expect to see any monkeys on my trip, so this was an amazing surprise.  As we walked down to the buffet hut, Raja said, “Hey, look! Monkeys!” There were two of them on the roof, but there were at least six of them in all; it was likely more like 10 that we saw. I saw full sized monkeys, kid monkeys, and a mama monkey carrying a baby on her front! It was funny to watch the monkeys steal food from the buffet tent. They seem to like idli. 

At the restaurant there was the delicious smell of wood smoke and I also saw three ladies in ghunghat, or Hindu veils. Interestingly enough, I saw them again later in the day, too.

I took tons of pictures of the monkeys and their antics. After breakfast , Raja bought some sweets (and some for Raju, as well) and we drove on a bit to a toyshop where they had lots of toys and things made out of sandalwood, rosewood and other  woods and metals. They had beautiful depictions of the gods, elephants, full dining room sets, puja cabinets: tons of stuff I would have loved to take home with me to decorate my house.  I bought some things for the prize box, and we went on our way.

On the way to the next stop there were many more interesting sights. We drove past a motorcycle dealership (Hero Honda) with a cow tethered outside. Maybe someone had brought it for a trade-in?  We saw several brightly painted lorries. They are so gorgeous, much more interesting to look at than the big rigs in the U.S.  There were also several smaller trucks, which carried several people in the back, sometimes up to 8 or 10 people. One I saw just had one guy in it, asleep, with his legs hanging out the back of the truck. Later I saw one with several little boys and their mom in it. The boys were so cute with their tousled hair and big brown eyes. The camera I had with me doesn't take good pictures of moving objects, so I don't have a lot of those.

We went through Mandya, “Sugar City” and fields and fields of sugar cane and rice paddies.

I saw a man sitting with two sheep who were grazing the grass on the median between the opposing freeway lanes.

Probably the oddest thing I saw, though, was this old man with matted grey hair who was wearing only ½ a pair of pants. Not shorts, but one pant. At first I wasn’t sure because his shirt and pants were about the same color as his skin, and he was standing facing away from the road. However, when I looked closer, only the right pant leg was there, and his left leg was bare all the way to his waist. Yes, I could see the left cheek of his robot. That was really weird. I don’t know what the front of the pant looked like, but I don’t think I want to know.

Our next stop was the summer palace  of Tipu Sultan.  It was absolutely beautiful. Tipu Sultan, also known as "the Tiger of Mysore," was the de facto (real) ruler of Mysore from 1782-1799.

It's usually not allowed to take pictures inside museums, palaces, or temples, but I'll tell you, this place was absolutely gorgeous. The walls and floors were painted and inlaid and carved. Beautiful colors and designs, mostly Islamic style designs. There were drawings of him and of his seven handsome sons. I thought the painting of him looked just like Raja. He was very handsome.

I didn’t want to use the Indian-style bathroom at the palace, so Raja had the driver stop at a really fancy 5-Star hotel in Mysore: Sandesh the Prince Hotel. I went in and asked them for their tariffs list (that is the brochure with their room rates on it.) The cheapest rate, which is for only one person, was 4500 rupees a night! That’s still not bad when compared with regular rates at a nicer U.S. hotel,  but their primo rates were 15,000 or more rupees a night.  Using online deals, you can get rooms in U.S. hotels for a lot cheaper. Still, it’s fun to stay in fancy hotels sometimes. After getting the tariff card, I asked to use the restroom. Then I came out and Raja was waiting for me. We got back into the car and headed for the next place, Mysore Palace.

My 30,000 gods, Mysore Palace is an amazing place. You have to take off your shoes  (and put them in “shoe check” which costs 10 rupees) and check your camera (50 rupees) to even go into the palace. It costs a lot more for non-Indians to enter these places, because tourism is how they make their money.  Because Raja is a dual citizen, he gets to pay the Indian price. However, an audio tour was included in the price of my ticket (100 rupees), but not his (5 rupees).

The palace is not actually very old. It was built to replace the previous palace, which burned down in 1897. It took 15 years to build it, and was finished in 1912. It contains Hindu, Islamic, and Victorian architecture, and it is just absolutely glorious.

As we entered the palace grounds, a nice man offered to be our guide. He had an official guide badge, so we accepted his offer, but then when we wanted to meet up with him, we couldn’t find him! (We hadn’t paid him yet, so he wasn’t a cheat, we just lost one another.) I took the audio tour and Raja followed along. I had to leave my I.D. with the audio tour guy in order to take the equipment.  The palace was amazing, of course, with gorgeous painted walls,  inlaid floors, carved woodwork, and colors. So many beautiful colors. There was a place where the Rajas would greet the people, and a chamber where he would meet with his advisors. The royal family of Mysore, the Wodeyars, ruled from 1399 c.e. all the way up until 1947 c.e., when the British left and India became unified and independent. 

One thing that is really cool about the palace is that the Royal Family of Mysore were devotees of Durga, who is one of my personal favorite goddesses. You don’t see much Durga worship in Chennai, and most of it is in Kolkata, which is in the Northeast corner of India, but in Mysore, it is common. They even have a huge annual festival devoted to her, called Dussehra. If and when I live in Bangalore, I am definitely going to travel to Mysore at least once to see it.

After the palace, we went to the gift shop. 70% of the sandalwood in the world is grown in the state of Karnataka, and Mysore is famous for sandalwood.  Sandalwood is a tree that has been used for its incredible scent for thousands of years. It was said to be given its beautiful aroma by the gods, and hence, it is holy. It is used in many ways: incense, perfume, sachets, fans… I bought a lot of it, and my suitcase is going to smell delicious.  We were going to go to the temple, but it was closed. Instead, Raja treated me to a wonderful surprise. He had me blessed by an elephant! I went to the elephant and gave him 20 rupees. He took it with his trunk and gave it to his handler. He then lay his trunk gently on my head. It was magical. Of course, the poor elephants are not always treated well by their handlers, but I know they hold the spirit of Ganesha. Their karma is good, while the handlers…well it depends on how they treat the elephants, doesn’t it?

Outside of the palace was a crazy bazaar. Tons of people trying to sell you tons of stuff you don’t want. I bought something from one of them, and the same guy tried to sell me the same thing about two minutes later (and I think for a lower price!) We had some tender coconut water (I thought of you, my coconut-loving students), then ran through the bazaar to get to the car. While trying to find our car, a cute young boy came up trying to sell us even more fans.

I pointed out that it was hard to resist someone so cute, and Raja pointed out that often parents keep their kids out of school to hawk wares just for that reason. That made me sad. I wanted to tell that kid to go to school, and that if he made it through eighth standard (eighth grade) I’d give him enough money to buy 1,000 fans. (That would be 50,000 rupees, which would no doubt be a fortune for him and his family.) But I didn’t. I just got in the car, and let Raju drive on.

Next Raja and I went to a beautiful botanical garden, Brindavan Gardens, in Mysore. The gardens are laid out near a giant dam, called the Krishnarajasagara dam, and are studded with fountains and man- made waterways. It is really, really lovely. They let you have your camera there, but you have to pay 50 rupees to take it in. We walked around, and up the stairs to the top where you could see the gardens in their entirety. We heard music and followed it to an outdoor temple where Raja went for a blessing (I chose not to this time.) We walked back and sat on a bench for a while, but then it started to rain. Raja and I decided to walk over to this lovely expensive hotel, The Royal Orchid Brindivan overlooking the gardens. We sat on the terrace and had some chaat (snacks) and coffee. Because we bought something, I got to use their nice restroom.  The terrace was lovely; it was round with columns and open to the air. The rain had cleared up. Raja and I had a nice talk. Being with him there was really romantic, the kind of stuff I really enjoy.

We stayed on the terrace for about an hour. We were mainly waiting until the sun went down because that is when they turn on the lights in the garden. It is supposed to be something to see. We walked down from the terrace and back to the bench near the top of the stairs. There we waited for about a half an hour. I spent a lot of time watching these four (very cute) rambunctious boys stick each other in the robot with pointy leaves from a plant. As the time grew near, we stood up and looked over at the garden below. As Raja was standing next to me, I heard him say, “Oh, hello, there!” A very little girl had come up to him and held his hand! I think she thought for a moment that he was her daddy. When she realized he wasn’t, she ran away. I had to laugh.

The lights began to come on at dusk, then, as the sky finally darkened, all the garden lights and fountain lights came on. It was really lovely. We walked down the stairs, and it began to rain. A lot of people rushed to cover up or put up umbrellas, but it didn’t seem like much to me. It was rather like sea spray.  We walked down a long pier in the rain towards a large fountain that glowed bright green.  When we got to the end of the pier, there was an area with food stands: soft drinks and roasted corn and popcorn and nuts. It all smelled delicious, but we didn’t want to risk it, so we turned around and walked back along the pier to the parking lot.

By the time we got back to the end of the pier, we were both soaking wet.  Luckily, Raju was in the very first parking spot, and we jumped in. We were both tired, but I was exhausted. I couldn’t exactly fall asleep, but I did “rest my eyes” and lay down on Raja’s lap in the back of the car. We stopped at a restaurant for dinner, and Raja ordered some really delicious stuff (again!) We ate, and headed home to the B&B for another night of restful sleep.

I was still exhausted, but when we got back to the B&B I realized I was at least two full days behind on my blog. I also had a bunch of poems floating around in my head. I wrote for about an hour after Raja drifted off, but I couldn’t take it anymore and drifted off too. In fact, I just finished this on Sunday night, and I’m still a day behind. I’ll complete today’s tale tomorrow on my 5 ½ hur trip back to Chennai on the train.

Until then, be good!